Today was a crazy day with the kids. We left the house at 8:30, drove an hour to the Beardsley Zoo, walked around looking at animals for 3 hours, got food, blew some money at the gift shop, drove home, changed into our bathing suits, and met a friend and her kids (one in Jack's kindergarten class) at the pool, where they swam and ran around for 3 hours before we wearily headed home, bathed, ate, and piled them into bed.
And they were incredibly happy, almost all day, and I realized that maybe that's one of the secrets to this whole parenting thing. Much as I might want to relax and kick back or whatever, they want to be busy, racing about from one thing to another. I don't want to overschedule them, and I realize that's a bad thing too. But they're happier -- less whiny, less complaining -- and cheerier when they're busy.
At dinner, Jack chattered away about the different animals at the zoo. Kate sort of sing-songed away about the pool, and "swimming" in 1-foot deep water in the kiddie pool. And when they fell into bed, and didn't make a peep, it was with smiles on their faces, I think.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Summer Break, Day 3
Kind of too tired to write about today's trip to the Big Apple Circus, or playing frisbee with Jack in the backyard, or dining at a tavern after the circus and Jack being fascinated by the pool table, and later the dartboard (the bartender let him throw a few plastic darts, which careened wildly around the room hitting everything but the board itself).
But I will take a minute to share Jack's journal entry, about the previous day.
But I will take a minute to share Jack's journal entry, about the previous day.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Summer break, Day 2
Was planning to take the kids to a playground or something today. But it was really hot, so instead we went with the go-to for hot days, the beach. Told the kids, they celebrated wildly. Loaded the car with chairs, towels, and snacks, and we were off.
I feel like I've written a lot about our beach trips, because they're awesome, so I'm going to stick with highlights:
- We saw a couple of huge crabs with big legs like tarantulas or something. I picked Kate up to show her, Jack I pointed them out repeatedly until he finally said he saw them (I'm not 100 percent sure he did). Kate probably did, because she was a little wary of the water for much of the trip.
- Saw some horseshoe crabs, too, which Jack had just read date back to dinosaur times. So I told him that that dead one we'd seen a few trips back, which he touchingly tried to save by picking it up with a shovel and carrying it into the water (still the most awesome moment all year I think), was maybe just tired from being alive for 100 million years.
- Played football in the water with Jack. He talked about throws being "super gonzo incredible" throws or somesuch, the idea being it was a really, really big throw, and even more impressive to catch them. He also had interesting rules on what constituted a catch. If it didn't hit the ground, he caught it. Since we were playing in knee-deep water, they never hit the ground, so everything was a catch, worthy of vast celebration.
- Kate ate an entire bag of Pirate's Booty, this popcorn-like snackfood, I believe. That's what I get for turning my back for a bit.
- Putting on sunblock, I missed a couple of spots on Jack's cheeks, so he looks like a football player who used red eyeblack. Oops.
- They had donuts (left over from the previous day), apples, goldfish, pretzels, Pirate's Booty, and I think some other kind of snackfood. Not much "I don't LIKE that," from either party today.
- Jack taught Kate how to jump over waves in knee-deep water. He jumped, wobbled, stayed upright. She sort of jumped and got washed over. Spluttered water, but smiled.
- At the end of the trip, they met another apparent brother-sister couple, I'd put them a couple of years older. The four of them spent half an hour digging a big mudhole and making a big pile of sand. I wished I'd brought a book, because they could not have cared less that I was there.
- I washed them each off in the ocean two or three times before leaving. I'd wash Kate off, carry her back to the towel, tell her to put on her sandals. She immediately plopped down on her butt in the sand, then put on her sandals. I carried her back to the water, rinse, repeat.
- We drove home and the kids read magazines and drank from their water bottles in the back. Later, they'd sing songs at home, Jack probably something about burping or farting, Kate something about how being naked is funny. They're something else, those kids.
I feel like I've written a lot about our beach trips, because they're awesome, so I'm going to stick with highlights:
- We saw a couple of huge crabs with big legs like tarantulas or something. I picked Kate up to show her, Jack I pointed them out repeatedly until he finally said he saw them (I'm not 100 percent sure he did). Kate probably did, because she was a little wary of the water for much of the trip.
- Saw some horseshoe crabs, too, which Jack had just read date back to dinosaur times. So I told him that that dead one we'd seen a few trips back, which he touchingly tried to save by picking it up with a shovel and carrying it into the water (still the most awesome moment all year I think), was maybe just tired from being alive for 100 million years.
- Played football in the water with Jack. He talked about throws being "super gonzo incredible" throws or somesuch, the idea being it was a really, really big throw, and even more impressive to catch them. He also had interesting rules on what constituted a catch. If it didn't hit the ground, he caught it. Since we were playing in knee-deep water, they never hit the ground, so everything was a catch, worthy of vast celebration.
- Kate ate an entire bag of Pirate's Booty, this popcorn-like snackfood, I believe. That's what I get for turning my back for a bit.
- Putting on sunblock, I missed a couple of spots on Jack's cheeks, so he looks like a football player who used red eyeblack. Oops.
- They had donuts (left over from the previous day), apples, goldfish, pretzels, Pirate's Booty, and I think some other kind of snackfood. Not much "I don't LIKE that," from either party today.
- Jack taught Kate how to jump over waves in knee-deep water. He jumped, wobbled, stayed upright. She sort of jumped and got washed over. Spluttered water, but smiled.
- At the end of the trip, they met another apparent brother-sister couple, I'd put them a couple of years older. The four of them spent half an hour digging a big mudhole and making a big pile of sand. I wished I'd brought a book, because they could not have cared less that I was there.
- I washed them each off in the ocean two or three times before leaving. I'd wash Kate off, carry her back to the towel, tell her to put on her sandals. She immediately plopped down on her butt in the sand, then put on her sandals. I carried her back to the water, rinse, repeat.
- We drove home and the kids read magazines and drank from their water bottles in the back. Later, they'd sing songs at home, Jack probably something about burping or farting, Kate something about how being naked is funny. They're something else, those kids.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Summer break, Day 1
Jack is off for the summer, well until Lego Camp starts next week. Kate is off this week. So, I wanted to make sure to give them a good time. Day 1, kind of hit or miss....
- Went to Dunkin Donuts. Wanted to start the week off with something fun for them, plus I hadn't had enough coffee. "Can we get munchkins AND a big donut?" asked Jack. Today, sure. Kate got something with strawberry frosting, Jack got the same, until I ordered a butternut, and he got one of those instead. They munched happily, I drank iced coffee, only later remembering I hadn't actually had any breakfast beyond a couple of munchkins. Oh well.
- Went to Greenwich Town Hall to pay a vehicle tax bill from the previous year. "That's where my soccer is," Jack announced as we parked in the lot; indeed, the soccer fields were down below. As usual, the kids wanted to touch everything as we waited in line in the Tax Collector's office...pencils, pens, counters, etc. As usual, I tried to stop them.
- Came home and took Kate's baby for a stroll down the street. See blog entry below.
- Painting! They love to paint and I love to let them, but there's some set up work involved and clean up after, so it doesn't happen every day. Kate made some nice faces with little arms and legs sticking out and some dots of green and purple and brown on the paper. Jack made people and what looks like a robot of some kind, both with happy smiles.
- Lunchtime. Kate was too tired to eat anything -- didn't nap yesterday, so we took things easy today -- and went up for her nap. Jack ate roast beef, yogurt, chips and bread.
- Jack and I played on the porch some with his dinosaurs and Optimus Prime, the Transformer. Apparently in this story the dinosaurs were evil and Optimus had to smash them all. I kind of felt bad for them because he was a lot bigger and more mobile. And he was operated by Jack while I was making the dinosaurs run around, so clearly they weren't going to win.
- We built a robot of some sort with Legos, making it look like a picture Jack drew. I said, hey Jack, that's impressive; you had a vision, and we made it real. I explained what I meant by vision. He said, "I don't want to learn any more new words...I already know enough." We get this from him every once in a while. Over the rest of the day I gave him examples of how great it is to learn words, so you can say things like chandelier or corn rather than "black thing with lights on the end" or "yellow and white thing with little circles on it." Emily, at dinner, said, What if we just called you, brown-haired boy with brown eyes, instead of Jack? He got a kick out of that one.
- Kate woke up and she had lunch, while Jack had a snack. Grapes. Really can't go wrong with fruit.
- We played in the back yard some, swings for both and pitching to Jack. It's pretty dangerous really, because he can hit and I'm standing somewhat closer than regulations. A couple of line drives he's hit back up the middle have been worrying.
- Finished a book and put Jack to bed. Decided we're going to do something new tomorrow.
- Went to Dunkin Donuts. Wanted to start the week off with something fun for them, plus I hadn't had enough coffee. "Can we get munchkins AND a big donut?" asked Jack. Today, sure. Kate got something with strawberry frosting, Jack got the same, until I ordered a butternut, and he got one of those instead. They munched happily, I drank iced coffee, only later remembering I hadn't actually had any breakfast beyond a couple of munchkins. Oh well.
- Went to Greenwich Town Hall to pay a vehicle tax bill from the previous year. "That's where my soccer is," Jack announced as we parked in the lot; indeed, the soccer fields were down below. As usual, the kids wanted to touch everything as we waited in line in the Tax Collector's office...pencils, pens, counters, etc. As usual, I tried to stop them.
- Came home and took Kate's baby for a stroll down the street. See blog entry below.
- Painting! They love to paint and I love to let them, but there's some set up work involved and clean up after, so it doesn't happen every day. Kate made some nice faces with little arms and legs sticking out and some dots of green and purple and brown on the paper. Jack made people and what looks like a robot of some kind, both with happy smiles.
- Lunchtime. Kate was too tired to eat anything -- didn't nap yesterday, so we took things easy today -- and went up for her nap. Jack ate roast beef, yogurt, chips and bread.
- Jack and I played on the porch some with his dinosaurs and Optimus Prime, the Transformer. Apparently in this story the dinosaurs were evil and Optimus had to smash them all. I kind of felt bad for them because he was a lot bigger and more mobile. And he was operated by Jack while I was making the dinosaurs run around, so clearly they weren't going to win.
- We built a robot of some sort with Legos, making it look like a picture Jack drew. I said, hey Jack, that's impressive; you had a vision, and we made it real. I explained what I meant by vision. He said, "I don't want to learn any more new words...I already know enough." We get this from him every once in a while. Over the rest of the day I gave him examples of how great it is to learn words, so you can say things like chandelier or corn rather than "black thing with lights on the end" or "yellow and white thing with little circles on it." Emily, at dinner, said, What if we just called you, brown-haired boy with brown eyes, instead of Jack? He got a kick out of that one.
- Kate woke up and she had lunch, while Jack had a snack. Grapes. Really can't go wrong with fruit.
- We played in the back yard some, swings for both and pitching to Jack. It's pretty dangerous really, because he can hit and I'm standing somewhat closer than regulations. A couple of line drives he's hit back up the middle have been worrying.
- Finished a book and put Jack to bed. Decided we're going to do something new tomorrow.
stroller
Aunt Cathy had a tag sales this weekend, and Kate came back with a stroller for her baby.
Kate is very appreciative of certain toys. A couple of weeks back, Emily got her a present, a doll of "Belle" from Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Kate has never seen the movie, but when she saw Belle, her eyes got wide and her mouth made the "Ooooooooo" sound. "Belllle," she breathed, in wonderment.
But quickly the stroller has assumed favorite status for Kate. She got it home, and immediately put her baby into it. She fiddled around with the canopy over it, and adjusted the angles and so forth as best she could. And then we went for a stroll around the block.
We did this again a little bit later. And then again. And then, "Daddy? Can we go for a walk? Can we take baby with us? In her stroller?"
Baby also strolled about the house. Into the playroom. Up the stairs into Kate's room. Out onto the back deck. Back inside. Back outside. Onto the porch. Into the driveway. Back inside.
7:30 this morning. "Daddy, can we go for a walk?"
Kate is very appreciative of certain toys. A couple of weeks back, Emily got her a present, a doll of "Belle" from Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Kate has never seen the movie, but when she saw Belle, her eyes got wide and her mouth made the "Ooooooooo" sound. "Belllle," she breathed, in wonderment.
But quickly the stroller has assumed favorite status for Kate. She got it home, and immediately put her baby into it. She fiddled around with the canopy over it, and adjusted the angles and so forth as best she could. And then we went for a stroll around the block.
We did this again a little bit later. And then again. And then, "Daddy? Can we go for a walk? Can we take baby with us? In her stroller?"
Baby also strolled about the house. Into the playroom. Up the stairs into Kate's room. Out onto the back deck. Back inside. Back outside. Onto the porch. Into the driveway. Back inside.
7:30 this morning. "Daddy, can we go for a walk?"
Thursday, June 23, 2011
swimming, again
Took Jack swimming at the Rye Y today. We hadn't been there before, and there was a class in the shallow end, so we had to be in the deep end -- 9 feet!
At first Jack was a little nervous. He hadn't actually been swimming in a pool in more than 2 months. And it was a new pool and a new depth for him.
But with the floaty noodle under his arms, he was fine, and he started to relax. Then the floaty barbells. And gradually, as he warmed up to it, he remembered that he could swim.
So by the end, he was jumping off the edge of the pool, a pretty good half dive, half belly flop. First into my arms, then with me across the pool, where he'd kind of dog paddle, steamboat his way over to me. And then he was pushing away the barbells and noodle and swimming for the edge on his own.
I was always just a few feet away, but at times, I was nervous. In the first place, I've been in better shape, to be honest. After half an hour treading water, helping Jack, catching Jack, swimming with the noodle, etc., I was beat.
But at the end, and it was time to get out, he had a big smile on his face and was proud of himself. And he was tired, too, but happy.
In our matching bathing suits and matching colorful towels, we found our way back to the locker room. Showered, dressed, and went off to get haircuts together.
At first Jack was a little nervous. He hadn't actually been swimming in a pool in more than 2 months. And it was a new pool and a new depth for him.
But with the floaty noodle under his arms, he was fine, and he started to relax. Then the floaty barbells. And gradually, as he warmed up to it, he remembered that he could swim.
So by the end, he was jumping off the edge of the pool, a pretty good half dive, half belly flop. First into my arms, then with me across the pool, where he'd kind of dog paddle, steamboat his way over to me. And then he was pushing away the barbells and noodle and swimming for the edge on his own.
I was always just a few feet away, but at times, I was nervous. In the first place, I've been in better shape, to be honest. After half an hour treading water, helping Jack, catching Jack, swimming with the noodle, etc., I was beat.
But at the end, and it was time to get out, he had a big smile on his face and was proud of himself. And he was tired, too, but happy.
In our matching bathing suits and matching colorful towels, we found our way back to the locker room. Showered, dressed, and went off to get haircuts together.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Father's Day
Slept til 6:45. That was sort of new.
Kids brought in cards. Jack had been talking up his cards all week. They were of course awesome. The best was one with a picture of the Earth, and a couple of dinosaurs on it, and a huge asteroid almost as big as the earth heading right toward it. The other had a funny rhyme: "Don't be sad. You're my Dad!" I think that was it.
Kate had made one at her preschool with a little poem between her handprints, reminding Dad not to get frustrated with her because she wouldn't always be this little. That one made me tear up a little.
Jack wished me Father's Day and hugged me. Then it was Kate's turn, but Kate often has a problem being told what to do. So she kind of hugged herself and looked down for a minute. I shrugged, wasn't going to fight it. Two minutes later, though, she looked up and said in a low voice, "Happy Father's Day..." and hugged me shyly. It was nice.
Jack wanted to have his breakfast in bed with me while I drank my coffee. We decided against it.
All day, Jack made it his business to defend me. "Mommy, you can't disagree with Daddy....It's Father's Day!" This occurred on a few occasions. Funny.
We went to the beach. I spent most of the time playing frisbee with Jack in the ocean. I was always pretty good at it and Jack has become pretty good at it too. We threw it back and forth in knee to waist-deep water for a while.
Made a sand castle with Kate. Found a cool shell that seemed to still have a creature in it and showed it to them. Put it back in the water where I'd found it.
Went to Ian's parents' house for dinner. Sat in their backyard to eat and drink. Kids played. They have a little waterfall and koi pond which used to fascinate Jack and now intrigues Kate. Toward the end of the evening we sat on the edge and looked at the stones in the water, some of which had writing on them. "Hope," "Change," etc. Kate couldn't read the words but could read all the letter. "H....O.....P....." she said slowly.
Everyone was pretty wiped out in the evening. A little too much sun and not enough water no doubt. Jack and I read his big Dinosaur book, a pretty cool recent one, where the T-Rex has a scary plume of feathers (seriously!) on his head and there are nice pages of Velociraptors (I had to explain to Jack was "cunning" means) and other fierce dinosaurs. And really, reading a dinosaur book with Jack, I can't think of many better ways to end a Father's Day.
Kids brought in cards. Jack had been talking up his cards all week. They were of course awesome. The best was one with a picture of the Earth, and a couple of dinosaurs on it, and a huge asteroid almost as big as the earth heading right toward it. The other had a funny rhyme: "Don't be sad. You're my Dad!" I think that was it.
Kate had made one at her preschool with a little poem between her handprints, reminding Dad not to get frustrated with her because she wouldn't always be this little. That one made me tear up a little.
Jack wished me Father's Day and hugged me. Then it was Kate's turn, but Kate often has a problem being told what to do. So she kind of hugged herself and looked down for a minute. I shrugged, wasn't going to fight it. Two minutes later, though, she looked up and said in a low voice, "Happy Father's Day..." and hugged me shyly. It was nice.
Jack wanted to have his breakfast in bed with me while I drank my coffee. We decided against it.
All day, Jack made it his business to defend me. "Mommy, you can't disagree with Daddy....It's Father's Day!" This occurred on a few occasions. Funny.
We went to the beach. I spent most of the time playing frisbee with Jack in the ocean. I was always pretty good at it and Jack has become pretty good at it too. We threw it back and forth in knee to waist-deep water for a while.
Made a sand castle with Kate. Found a cool shell that seemed to still have a creature in it and showed it to them. Put it back in the water where I'd found it.
Went to Ian's parents' house for dinner. Sat in their backyard to eat and drink. Kids played. They have a little waterfall and koi pond which used to fascinate Jack and now intrigues Kate. Toward the end of the evening we sat on the edge and looked at the stones in the water, some of which had writing on them. "Hope," "Change," etc. Kate couldn't read the words but could read all the letter. "H....O.....P....." she said slowly.
Everyone was pretty wiped out in the evening. A little too much sun and not enough water no doubt. Jack and I read his big Dinosaur book, a pretty cool recent one, where the T-Rex has a scary plume of feathers (seriously!) on his head and there are nice pages of Velociraptors (I had to explain to Jack was "cunning" means) and other fierce dinosaurs. And really, reading a dinosaur book with Jack, I can't think of many better ways to end a Father's Day.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Jack day
Today was Jack's "Moving Up" day at school, which basically means he's "graduating" from Kindergarten and entering the 1st grade next year. So despite his protests that he wanted to wear shorts and a T-shirt, we dressed him up in nice pants, shoes, and a shirt with a collar, and sent him off to his last day as a Kindergartner. Sort of; he'll still be going there for another week and a half.
We gathered in the auditorium with all the other parents, grandparents who lived nearby, and their cameras. The kids filed in and up to their seats on stage, most looking serious, some with smiles frozen across their faces. We all said the Pledge of Allegiance, teachers said a few words, they got their diploma. Jack looked serious, businesslike. Every once in a while he'd catch our eye and give a little smile and wave. The 100 or so kids across three classes all got their little certificates -- Jack was near the end of the alphabet in the final class -- and then filed off to enjoy cookies and juice boxes while parents snapped pictures. Pretty cute.
We met up in the lunch room to find Jack loading up on brownies and Oreos. Excellent. Snapped pictures of him and Mrs. Glockenberg, his teacher, and The Coach, his gym coach. I sort of apologized for the fact that Jack sometimes wore Red Sox attire, as evidently The Coach is a big Yankees fan. He laughed.
On the way out to the car afterward, Jack crouched down to examine a bug on the sidewalk. He watched it for a minute while we waited. Then he stood up, wiped his hands off on his good pants, and walked to the car, leaving kindergarten behind.
_____________________________________________________
We went to McDonald's for lunch. Jack ate all his nuggets, as usual, but mostly he was pretty thrilled with his toy. "I can't believe I got Kung Fu Panda!" he said. "I mean, I could have just got the BIRD. All he does is SPIN."
______________________________________________________
After lunch Jack and I went to our two banks. At one he got a lollipop, and at the other he got to see the cool old-fashioned Drive-Thru (or is it new? I don't know) where you put everything in a plastic tube and it gets sucked into the bank, and then shot back out to you. He thought it was almost as cool as I did.
_______________________________________________________
We went to the library. He got a dinosaur book for him ("I like nonfiction books," he said) and a book for Kate by the same person who did 'Click, Clack, Moo.' Then he saw Battleship, and we played that. Battleship can be a really slow game with a 6-year-old. First off, he kept calling out, "5-9" and "6-3," while I explained he had to say one letter and one number. Second, he thinks a lot about each choice, and takes a while to put in his pegs, and calls the same numbers more than once, and tends to group his choices whether he gets a hit or not. (I-9. Miss. I-10? Miss. I-8? Miss. H-10?) It was a long game until I started giving him 3 guesses per turn, and said he only had to hit a ship to sink it (because really, isn't that how things would have gone anyway?).
________________________________________________________
Emily and I took him to the park to ride his bike. There was no one around so we owned the tennis courts. And after some prodding and running alongside and letting go of the seat and him putting his feet down, he did it -- he rode. And a huge, goofy smile broke out on his face as he rode clunkily along (he's probably a little too big for the bike now), and continued on, and waved us away as we tried to help him more.
Graduating from Kindergarten, riding his bike, playing Battleship, getting Kung Fu Panda at McDonald's. Big day for Jack.
We gathered in the auditorium with all the other parents, grandparents who lived nearby, and their cameras. The kids filed in and up to their seats on stage, most looking serious, some with smiles frozen across their faces. We all said the Pledge of Allegiance, teachers said a few words, they got their diploma. Jack looked serious, businesslike. Every once in a while he'd catch our eye and give a little smile and wave. The 100 or so kids across three classes all got their little certificates -- Jack was near the end of the alphabet in the final class -- and then filed off to enjoy cookies and juice boxes while parents snapped pictures. Pretty cute.
We met up in the lunch room to find Jack loading up on brownies and Oreos. Excellent. Snapped pictures of him and Mrs. Glockenberg, his teacher, and The Coach, his gym coach. I sort of apologized for the fact that Jack sometimes wore Red Sox attire, as evidently The Coach is a big Yankees fan. He laughed.
On the way out to the car afterward, Jack crouched down to examine a bug on the sidewalk. He watched it for a minute while we waited. Then he stood up, wiped his hands off on his good pants, and walked to the car, leaving kindergarten behind.
_____________________________________________________
We went to McDonald's for lunch. Jack ate all his nuggets, as usual, but mostly he was pretty thrilled with his toy. "I can't believe I got Kung Fu Panda!" he said. "I mean, I could have just got the BIRD. All he does is SPIN."
______________________________________________________
After lunch Jack and I went to our two banks. At one he got a lollipop, and at the other he got to see the cool old-fashioned Drive-Thru (or is it new? I don't know) where you put everything in a plastic tube and it gets sucked into the bank, and then shot back out to you. He thought it was almost as cool as I did.
_______________________________________________________
We went to the library. He got a dinosaur book for him ("I like nonfiction books," he said) and a book for Kate by the same person who did 'Click, Clack, Moo.' Then he saw Battleship, and we played that. Battleship can be a really slow game with a 6-year-old. First off, he kept calling out, "5-9" and "6-3," while I explained he had to say one letter and one number. Second, he thinks a lot about each choice, and takes a while to put in his pegs, and calls the same numbers more than once, and tends to group his choices whether he gets a hit or not. (I-9. Miss. I-10? Miss. I-8? Miss. H-10?) It was a long game until I started giving him 3 guesses per turn, and said he only had to hit a ship to sink it (because really, isn't that how things would have gone anyway?).
________________________________________________________
Emily and I took him to the park to ride his bike. There was no one around so we owned the tennis courts. And after some prodding and running alongside and letting go of the seat and him putting his feet down, he did it -- he rode. And a huge, goofy smile broke out on his face as he rode clunkily along (he's probably a little too big for the bike now), and continued on, and waved us away as we tried to help him more.
Graduating from Kindergarten, riding his bike, playing Battleship, getting Kung Fu Panda at McDonald's. Big day for Jack.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Playground
When we lived in Greenwich, I took the kids to playgrounds in Port Chester all the time. We went to Lyon's Park, and we went to the "baby playground," which was basically a smaller playground that nobody else seemed to go to.
Now we live within walking distance of both, and we go to Lyon's Park more because that's where people go, and where all of Jack's games are. And we play on our own swingset. But today, for a change, we went to the baby playground again.
It was a pretty hot day, so I sat on a bench in the shade with the water while the kids played. They went up and down the slides, and at one point Jack asked me to help him slide down the pole -- then said he was afraid when I came over -- then I talked him into it, and he DID, and was giddy with accomplishment and immediately wanted to do it AGAIN. At another point, while I was sitting about 20 yards away, I heard Kate yelling, looked up, and saw her hanging from one of the monkey bars, stuck, feet flailing wildly. I ran to get her, fortunately before she fell.
I pushed them both on swings, then they switched swings and I pushed them again. It was kind of nice, nostalgic. They ran around a little more, then we were going to leave....when suddenly I heard "Jack R!" And it was his friend Brian from school, and his brother. So we were there another hour and a half.
Finally we left, tired, sweaty, red-cheeked. (I promise I used sunblock, but you know, we weren't planning on being there for two hours.) We went home, split a gallon of water, turned on the air conditioner. And the kids played a board game while I thought how small they used to be on those swings.
Now we live within walking distance of both, and we go to Lyon's Park more because that's where people go, and where all of Jack's games are. And we play on our own swingset. But today, for a change, we went to the baby playground again.
It was a pretty hot day, so I sat on a bench in the shade with the water while the kids played. They went up and down the slides, and at one point Jack asked me to help him slide down the pole -- then said he was afraid when I came over -- then I talked him into it, and he DID, and was giddy with accomplishment and immediately wanted to do it AGAIN. At another point, while I was sitting about 20 yards away, I heard Kate yelling, looked up, and saw her hanging from one of the monkey bars, stuck, feet flailing wildly. I ran to get her, fortunately before she fell.
I pushed them both on swings, then they switched swings and I pushed them again. It was kind of nice, nostalgic. They ran around a little more, then we were going to leave....when suddenly I heard "Jack R!" And it was his friend Brian from school, and his brother. So we were there another hour and a half.
Finally we left, tired, sweaty, red-cheeked. (I promise I used sunblock, but you know, we weren't planning on being there for two hours.) We went home, split a gallon of water, turned on the air conditioner. And the kids played a board game while I thought how small they used to be on those swings.
Thursday, June 02, 2011
Kate at morning
Kate either wakes up too early, and is whiny and cranky in the mornings, or she sleeps in, and is a picture of sweetness and light. Here's one of the latter kind of mornings, as she comes down into the kitchen around 6:45, when I'm making coffee.
"He-llo, Daddy!"
She has her stuffed monkey with her. She makes a false sad voice. "Monkey is SAD, because she misses her Mommy."
She also has her stuffed kitties with her. She places them on a chair. "I will put my kitties HERE." One is too near the edge. "Oh, she's gonna FALL. I save you, kitty!" (Saves her. Then:) "I give her little kisses. kiss, kiss!"
Then she laughs at her kitties, and laughs at herself. "She's silly. Silly....silly....silly. I'm silly!"
Sensing there might be a blog in this, I start writing things down. Kate: "Oh, why are drawing so FAST? You don't have to do that. You can take your time with your drawing."
Pause. "You can use different colors. Do you want another crayon? Here's PURPLE. Here's RED."
Kate proceeds to draw pictures of her favorite things to draw pictures of, faces. "This is YOU, Daddy. Here's your stubble."
Then, "This is JACK. I made Jack, Daddy. .... Oops! I forgot to make Jack's HAIR. Silly. Doo, doo, de doo, de doo."
I give her another crayon. "Oh, THANK YOU." Kate cheerful and happy...a nice start to the day.
"He-llo, Daddy!"
She has her stuffed monkey with her. She makes a false sad voice. "Monkey is SAD, because she misses her Mommy."
She also has her stuffed kitties with her. She places them on a chair. "I will put my kitties HERE." One is too near the edge. "Oh, she's gonna FALL. I save you, kitty!" (Saves her. Then:) "I give her little kisses. kiss, kiss!"
Then she laughs at her kitties, and laughs at herself. "She's silly. Silly....silly....silly. I'm silly!"
Sensing there might be a blog in this, I start writing things down. Kate: "Oh, why are drawing so FAST? You don't have to do that. You can take your time with your drawing."
Pause. "You can use different colors. Do you want another crayon? Here's PURPLE. Here's RED."
Kate proceeds to draw pictures of her favorite things to draw pictures of, faces. "This is YOU, Daddy. Here's your stubble."
Then, "This is JACK. I made Jack, Daddy. .... Oops! I forgot to make Jack's HAIR. Silly. Doo, doo, de doo, de doo."
I give her another crayon. "Oh, THANK YOU." Kate cheerful and happy...a nice start to the day.
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